Backlash
by Jaal Ama Darav
Summary: The horrors of the Kett's Exaltation are endless, and when two siblings have SAM implants, and one is Exalted...


**Backlash**

**A/N- Been in kind of a slump, been a little depressed by the state of things. But I am trying to get myself out of it. **

**And I firmly believe writing Sakura Ryder and Jaal fics as well as focusing on my writing will help. **

**This is Part 1 of a two part 1,000 words or less promptfic series. Though one can read either one first. **

**Here's the first of many to come...**

* * *

_SAM, are we close? _Sakura Ryder ran down the green well-lit corridors of the Kett Exaltation facility. Black shoulder-length hair, blue eyes, chocolate brown skin, and dressed in her blue-white Angaran-designed armor.

Behind her to her left was her Asari teammate Peebee, dressed in purple-silver Asari armor, lightweight yet reliable.

Behind to Sakura's right was Jaal Ama Darav, her Angara teammate and lover, dressed in his usual black armor and purple rofjinn inclusive of visor over his right eye.

Unlike his usual tone, SAM sounded almost panicked. "Hurry, Pathfinder. There is not much time."

Sakura ran faster, her team following suit. _I'm not letting you monsters take Scott from me! _

Someone, or a group of someones had helped the Kett take her and Scott's still-in-stasis mother, Ellen Ryder. Then Scott went to try to save her, vanished. The trail had almost gone cold, but now they were back on track.

The rest of the Pathfinder team, Bain Massani and his team, and a Krogan team were causing a diversion and helping the others that they could.

If they failed, her entire family from the Milky Way would be gone, most certainly worse than dead.

Something flashed across Sakura's mind.

_A chill in the air, floating helplessly, Kett Cardinal with syringes in midair slowly approaching. _

"No! We have to hurry!" Sakura pushed on faster., her eyes growing misty.

_A jab of pain from two syringes piercing flesh. _

Sakura winced in pain, stumbled, and came to a stop. Tears welled up in her eyes and escaped, rolling down her cheeks. "No...please no! No! No!"

Jaal came to a stop beside Sakura, to catch her if she fell, his face the picture of worry. "Darling one, are you okay?" He knew something was wrong, very wrong, like on Khi Tasira when the Archon tampered with her SAM implant from the Hyperion's SAM node.

Peebee skidded to a halt, brows knitted in concern. "Are you okay?"

_The Ascendant pushed on the plungers. An unbearable burning sensation, painful beyond all measure, spread from the penetration points. _

Sakura screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Scott! No! NO! **NO!" **As she sank to her knees, she felt Jaal's familiar and gentle embrace.

She could barely hear Jaal over her screaming, his voice heavy with worry. "Darling one? Are you okay?! Speak to me please."

She mumbled incoherently at first then formed words. "Scott...no….Jaal...please help me..." The burning sensation intensified, she could feel a faint sensation of cracking and breaking bones, of insides morphing and changing.

Jaal sounded panicked and on the verge of tears. "Anything I can do? Anything?"

She barely heard Peebee screaming into the comms, voice laced with desperation. "Anyone nearby?! Bain?! Drack?! Cora?! Anyone?!"

_Vision fading to black, and Scott's terrified voice. "Sakura! Please don't let them do this to me like they did to mother!" _

Sobs wracked Sakura's body. "Scott, no...no...please...Jaal..." She slowly blacked out, voice thick with tears. She felt Jaal holding her against him. "...Jaal..."

* * *

Jaal sat on the cold floor, back against the wall, Sakura protectively held close on his lap. "Sakura?" He activated his comms, barely holding his voice steady and tears threatening to escape. "Something...something's happened. I don't know what, but sounded close to what happened on Khi Tasira." A pause, he heard his darling one still breathing, he sighed. "Except for the dying part. Thank the stars...thank the stars..."

Tesuna came over the comms, her voice shaking. "Jaal...Goddess..." She fought to compose herself but wasn't very successful. "Scott...he...I saw it...he's one of them. They Exalted him. I saw him turn. Right in front of my eyes. And I-" She sounded on the verge of breaking down. "I-I had to kill him. Put him out of his misery. I'm so sorry."

"No..." Jaal's blood ran deathly cold while tears escaped. _Wincing in pain...the screaming...stars...__skkutting__ stars…__did she feel it through the __implant__?! __Lexi must know._"What should we do?"

Bain came over the comms. "We need to get you and Sakura out of here, who knows if the damned collaborating bastards behind this are here, waiting." Jaal heard gunshots, Bain was fighting the Kett. "If the Kett took you...you know how Sakura would react...I don't want to ever see-" A grunt. "Damned bony Kett dogs! Die!" A slicing sound, he had skewered it with a blade, most likely the Kett Carfalon he had seen the Kett hunter wielding against the beasts earlier. "I'm coming your way with Cora and her Asari Commando unit."

"We'll wait for you." Jaal looked at Sakura, her breathing heavy, she was likely in pain. His heart hurt terribly at the thought of hurting her like that, of the pain she would go through if the Kett were to take him. And it wasn't just his darling one that would be hurt, his truemother Sahuna, his family, the Resistance, too many to count.

Bain was heard over the comms along with a door opening in the distance. "Getting close."

"Still here." Jaal glanced at Peebee, who was keeping a lookout, she nodded in sympathy. The Angara turned his attention to Sakura, her face one of pain and anguish, unconscious. He'll need to be there when she wakes, when the news is delivered.

Losing one's entire family was a terrible, terrible loss. He had seen it too many times, thanks to the Kett.

He could only pray to his ancestors for the best.

* * *

**A/N- Feedback is appreciated! Whether it's thoughts on the fic, constructive criticism, etc. **

**I've always wondered what would happen if one of the Ryder siblings was...turned by the Kett. Since both Ryder siblings have SAM implants, would the other sibling feel it like poor Sakura did? Would the Kett be able to use the Exalted sibling to gain information from the still-Human sibling somehow via the implant? There's a lot of horrifying possibilities, and I hope they tap into it in future games, what a nightmare it would be, would terrify all of us I think! **


End file.
